Eli walked into the Pub, limping slightly. His armor and duster, while always dirty, seemed to be caked with an extra layer of grime today. Some of said grime appeared to be blood, especially around his left leg and his right shoulder, which Eli would wince and move experimentally from time to time. “Damn Varisie. Can’t they just ever let me do my job without a fight?” He muttered, primarily to himself. Of course, when you have roughly eight other voices in your head, talking to yourself almost never goes without a comment. Right on time, Shreckt spoke up. _You do keep choosing these missions, knowing the Varisie, who would have been your comrades had you not deserted, will attack you and likely try to prevent you from completing your goal. This is your own fault._  

“Your point?” Eli replied under his breath, sitting down at the bar with a small groan of pain. _You can’t complain if you knew this was going to happen._ “The hell I can’t. Why did the bastard have to stab so hard? And why did he have to have such bad aim?” Eli complained quietly under his breath again, watching as the bartender made his way over, stopping to grab a bottle of his hardest whiskey(Black Velvet) and a shot glass.  _That’s how you get a knife through someone’s armor joints and flesh and you struggle quite a bit for someone who claimes he wants to die._  Eli snorted before replying. “That was a rhetorical question, and if I wanted to just ‘die’, I’d just toss myself off the nearest tall building. I want to be killed in battle. I am a soldier damn it. I’ll die like one.”

The bartender had reached Eli and set down both the shot glass and the bottle, taking Eli’s coin in return. “So, where’d you go in Varisie territory this time, and what happened?” He said, eyeing the white bandage that could be seen sticking out of Eli’s collar. Eli gave a low chuckle. “Nothing too bad this time. We only went a few miles into Empire controlled territory. We, that is, the Errant Knights and Red Hawks working with me, were supposed to deliver some supplies to the resistance movement there. On the way, a couple scout ships found our ship, attacked and boarded. One of the bastards shot me through the leg,” 

Eli gestured with the empty shot glass down to his leg, before filling it with the Black Velvet,” and then another got in close for sword work. Stabbed me through my shoulder, but failed to notice I had my own sword until it went through his stomach. We dropped off the supplies, but there were notably less of us on the way back.” He was silent for a moment, knocking back the burning whiskey without a flinch, before filling the glass up again. “Quiet time hmm?” He said, glancing around the bar. Most were regulars, Dancing Bard members. A few were unknown to him. The man in the corner, a Rider no doubt. They all had a certain…air about them. The Redhawk and his companion the…Eli cursed and looked away from the girl but it was too late.

_Was she Kusagi!?_ Shreckt practically shouted in his skull, causing a chorus of grumblings from the other spirits and Eli himself(though this time he refrained from speaking aloud. Nothing freaks out people more than talking to the voices in your head. ).  Eli considered arguing what he knew was going to come, but decided against it. His arm and leg hurt too much and he didn’t want to add a headache to his list of complaints. _Fine. Get in here, but don’t interrupt their conversation. Wait until they’re done before you barge over._ Eli said, mentally sighing. 

In the next heartbeat, Shreckt was there, sitting next to Eli at the bar. She swiveled her armored self to glance at the other Kusagi, a suppressed eagerness in her eyes. “I really need to get you to out more. See other people. More Kusagi. Because this, this is growing to be annoying.” Eli remarked, taking another shot of whiskey. Shreckt ignored him.